Tuesday, December 26, 2006

The American military is holding at least four Iranians in Iraq, including men the Bush administration called senior military officials, who were seized in a pair of raids late last week aimed at people suspected of conducting attacks on Iraqi security forces, according to senior Iraqi and American officials in Baghdad and Washington.

The Bush administration made no public announcement of the politically delicate seizure of the Iranians, though in response to specific questions the White House confirmed Sunday that the Iranians were in custody.

Gordon D. Johndroe, the spokesman for the National Security Council, said two Iranian diplomats were among those initially detained in the raids. The two had papers showing that they were accredited to work in Iraq, and he said they were turned over to the Iraqi authorities and released. He confirmed that a group of other Iranians, including the military officials, remained in custody while an investigation continued, and he said, “We continue to work with the government of Iraq on the status of the detainees.”

Sen. Chris Dodd, a Democrat who is considering a run for the White House, argued in a column in an Iowa newspaper Sunday for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

Sen. Dodd and Sen. Kerry met with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad on December 20. Earlier, Sen. Kerry met with U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq. In other words, these wimpy senators were talking about getting out of Iraq while the news was circulating that Iran was interfering in another nation’s affairs. The last I looked, that doesn’t fit the definition of a civil war. Instead, that’s an act of war. Syria is merely Iran’s puppet.

The bottom line is that Sens. Dodd and Kerry are telling Syria that they don’t need to stop letting terrorists into Iraq and that Iran can keep working to undercut the legitimately elected Iraqi government. In short, they’re pulling an April Glaspie.

In short, it’s time we told these dimwitted and wimpy Democrats to shut up until they pay attention to reality and pay attention to doing what’s best for U.S. national security.